Naruto:ODST
by Anime Redneck
Summary: Naruto/Halo AU. ODST, the best of the best. While the war with the alien covenant rages Naruto and his elite squad take the most dangerous missions with little chance of survival. But that's just the way they like it. Get ready to drop. Naru/Ino
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

It starts with the shakes. His body trembles for a moment as he steps into the pod. His back presses into the crash padding of the chair, after he stows his weapons in their harnesses. He sees his Commanding Officer step onto the launch deck. An unlit cigar in his mouth, an old habit he has, he doesn't light it until the mission is over till everyone is accounted for.

"Listen up apes, the situation on the ground is as bad as it can get. The marine units have all but been wiped out. The Covenant forces have nearly captured the entire area. To put it mildly you are about to be dropped straight into hell, AND HOW WILL YOU GO!" The CO screamed.

"FEET FIRST!" Chorused the four squads of elite soldiers.

"OUTSTANDING! You hit the drop and you smash the entire area, show those alien slime bags what ODST's are made of."

"HOO-RAH!!!"

Next, is a small hum as the hatch slides into place, a soft hiss as it seals and he is cut off from everything. Claustrophobia, no matter how many squad psychiatrists or hypnosis therapy sessions he still feels numbing fear as he sealed in a pod that he cant help but notice leaves no more room inside of it then a coffin does. Then it shakes as it lowered into position. This is the worst part, loaded into a tube like a bullet ready to be shot, and he knows that if the ship takes a hit now he could be trapped here awaiting a slow death. One more jerk and then he's violently shot forth. Time for a pod to reach planet side drop point: 30 seconds. Average life expectancy from an Orbital Drop Shock Troop: 25 seconds. The outer cameras come to life showing a peaceful sky filled with several other drop pods. Anti air fire begins and somewhere in the distance a pod explodes into a million pieces. 20 seconds to go, he breaks the cloud coverage next turbulence kicks in shaking him like chew toy. 10 seconds to go, his clear visor switches to heavy tinted completely hiding his face. Suddenly the drag chute pops open cutting his speed at the last second. Finally, with a loud boom he hits the ground, the hatch shoot completely off from the pod. For a moment he is disoriented by the light and sound before training kicks in and he runs out assault rifle leveled before him rounds firing into enemies as they appear.

"I got two gallons of illegal drink that says I rack up more kills then you." Came a call over the com from his squad leader, best friend, and rival.

"You're on Sasuke." He grinned. "There's nothing I'd like better than to relieve you of some contraband."

"In your dreams Naruto."

Explosions rained overhead, screams and bullets rang through the air. It was hell, but that was fine he was born for this, he was the best, he was ODST…

NARUTO: ODST

Chapter 1

Recruit

Planet Earth, Florida

The bar was crowded, but that was to be expected of a bar within walking distance of a military base. Civilians and military personnel alike were there. Naruto walked passed several people on his way to the bar, it was the third bar he'd been to that night and wouldn't be the last if he had his way. At 6 foot tall, in above average shape, with spiky blonde hair and piercing blue eyes he tended to stand out in a crowd even without the whisker like birthmarks on his cheeks. As he made it to the bar he spotted a young woman in military dress with bright pink hair.

"Hi there, my names Naruto." He said as he flashed a big grin.

"Hi." She answered simply before turning back to the bartender.

"Oh come on, you could at least tell me your name." She continued to ignore him ordering a drink. "Well if you're not going to tell me your name I'm just gonna have to make one up for you."

"My name is Sakura." She answered in a slightly annoyed tone.

"That's amazing that was the name I was gonna give you." Naruto drunkenly exclaimed. "So what is a pretty thing like you doing in the military?"

"Nothing that you would understand." Sakura answered dismissively.

"Really? Cause by the look of your uniform you're part of a medical unit. No cross on your shoulder so you must not be a field medic, which means you must be early in your training making you a nurse at this point." Naruto took a sip of his beer as he finished. "Am I Close?"

"Not bad for a drunken frat boy." Sakura replied mildly impressed. "Now if you'll excuse me I should get back to my friends they just got out of boot camp." She turned to leave when Naruto reached out to stop her.

"Hey there's no need to run off, promise I won't bite." He teased.

"The lady said to leave her alone." A voice growled from over Sakura's shoulder. He was taller than Naruto a bit broader in the shoulders wearing a fresh marine uniform.

"Go bother somebody climbing a beanstalk I'm busy here." Naruto replied taking another drink from his beer.

"You should be more polite runt. These aren't the best odds here." The Marine growled poking Naruto in the chest as four of his friends stood up behind him.

"So go get some more guys. Oh, and stop poking me." Naruto replied.

"Who's gonna make me?"

He poked Naruto in the chest once more and before he made contact Naruto grabbed his hand and twisted it before grabbing the marines head and slamming it into a table. The other marines rushed in an instant the first tackled Naruto pushing him into the bar. He punched Naruto in the gut twice before Naruto rammed his knee between the marine's legs and flipped him over the bar. A bottle cracked over Narutos head and made his vision blur for a second before he jabbed his assailant square in the nose breaking it. Without letting up Naruto struck three more times the last two were on him a messy tangle of limbs fell to the floor punches kicks and occasional the occasional bite went around until Naruto felt himself hoisted off the floor by the first marine and slammed on a table where he proceed to punch Naruto in the head. Black dots clouded his vision until he heard a voice cry out.

"OFFICER ON DECK!" The entire bar came to order, as the military personnel snapped to attention, even the civilians freezing in place. A tall man in an admirals uniform with close cropped white hair and a red scar on one cheek surveyed the room.

"Everybody out, bar's closed." He said calmly. Everyone hastily complied. "Except you Naruto." He said looking down at the young man still lying on the table.

Twenty minutes later the duo was seated at a table in the bar as the bartender attempted to clean the mess left behind after the brawl. Naruto with paper towels stuffed in his nose to stem the bleeding before he downed another beer.

"So how did you find me Ero-Sennin?" Naruto muttered.

"How many times have I told you not call me that?"

"Sorry, Admiral Jiraiya, sir." Naruto said with mock seriousness.

"Naruto, you're not in the military so don't address me as such. I'd like to think we're still family." Jiraiya replied in an exasperated tone.

"Sorry Grandpa." Naruto said softly.

"That's better." Jiraiya softened. "As to your last question all I had to do was follow the trail of empty beer bottles. I'm sorry about your mom."

"Makes two of us." Naruto muttered into his beer.

"She wouldn't want you to throw your future away over her though. Your father told me you withdrew your application to the Navy-."

"Don't bring him into this." Naruto growled. "I don't want anything to do with him."

"Naruto, your father isn't to blame for your mothers death." Jiraiya soothed.

"He's not much of a father to begin with, he was never there growing up, always off on a starship somewhere. Bastard didn't even make it to her funeral." Naruto whispered.

"I won't make excuses for my son Naruto, but you've spent your life going to military academies. You've waited your whole life to enlist."

"I'm not joining the Navy just to have everyone kiss my ass cause I'm my fathers son. I'm tired of being the admirals son. I just wanna be Naruto."

"Well there is always the Marines. Trust me they won't be impressed by your father. Marines only care about their own kind. Maybe you can find what you're looking for there."

"Dad did always hate infantry." Naruto grinned.

2 Years Later

Planet Reach, Fort Hidden Leafs

Naruto stood in formation on the hot asphalt with several other trainees. They were all clad in black fatigues with tight black shirts embroidered with their names and serial numbers. After two years as a marine Naruto had excelled in every mission and had finally been accepted into the ODST program. Before him a tall dark man with a cigar in his mouth walked back and forth across the assembled cadets appraising them. He was wearing black fatigues like them but had a hat covering his head and officers pins on his shoulders.

"Welcome to Fort Hidden Leafs, you are here because you are the best the Marine Corp has to offer, and as of right now all your skills mean absolutely jack shit. Here you will do the impossible; you will become better than Marines. My name is Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson, and I am god." Two spots next to Naruto a trainee sighed.

"How troublesome." He muttered. In an instant Sgt. Johnson was on him.

"Something bothering you boot?" Johnson growled.

"Sir. I just think this is pointless we know why we're here we all signed up for this. Sir." The trainee with a ponytail in a pineapple shape said in a bored tone.

"That's your first mistake boot you don't think until I tell you when and what to think." Johnson grabbed him by the collar jerking him out of formation. "You see that armory? Go run around it." The cadet started to mutter how troublesome this was before Johnson extended his stun baton and struck him on the leg with. "Move it boot. Sgt. Gai, keep pace." Johnson called out to a passing Sgt who grinned for a moment before extending his own baton.

"MOVE! Run fast to fan the flames of youth that burn within you." He shouted gleefully.

"Now, if any of you pukes think you can't take it and you want to quit all you gotta do is fill out your 10-16 and take a walk down washout lane." Johnson said gesturing to a path that led to the transport building. Johnson spit out the remains of his cigar and removed his duty belt. "Now, who thinks they got what it takes to knock me down?"

"Sir, I think I can, Sir." A trainee with wild hair and red triangle tattoos on his cheeks stepped forward.

"Well come on then boot." The cadet charged forward and threw a punch, Johnson easily caught the punch and flipped the cadet over on his back before giving it a sharp twist. The assembled trainees winced as a loud snap was heard. "You alright son?" Johnson asked calmly.

"Sir yes Sir, But I think I broke my arm Sir." He moaned in pain.

"Medic!" Johnson bellowed. A medic unit quickly ran over to the squad and began checking the trainees wound. "Now that we have the introductions out of the way I'm going to give you your squad assignments. You will train with these people, live, fight, eat, and more than likely die with these people so I suggest you get along. After you get your assignments head off to the chow hall, when you get back we're going to get to work."

"Damn Sgt Johnson, I'd like to kill him for breaking my arm." Growled the trainee with the broken arm. Naruto was seated at a table with his new squad mates.

"Don't let him hear you say that. He might break your other arm, but then at least you'd have matching bio foam casts." Naruto replied. Just then the other trainee with the pineapple like hair sat down at the table looking a bit haggard.

"That armory is bigger than it looks. So did I miss anything?" He asked.

"No not really, we were just about to go around the table and introduce ourselves and our skill sets." Naruto replied.

"Well it's troublesome but I'll go first and get it out of the way. I'm Shikamaru Nara, specialize in engineering. Basically I can fix anything from vehicles to computers." Shikamaru said in a bored tone. He gestured to the person next to him.

"Well I'm Kiba Inuzuka; I'm the guy to go to for heavy weapons. I'm also trained in survival tactics too." Shikamaru looked over at Kiba and noticed the blue bio foam cast on his arm.

"What happened to your arm?"

"Don't ask." Kiba growled. "What about you red? What's your name?" Kiba asked the person seated next to him. He had short red hair and dark circles around his eyes.

"I'm Gaara." He answered without looking up from his meal.

"Ok Gaara, what are you good at?" Kiba pressed.

"I like to blow stuff up. Your bunk is right across from mine right?" Gaara said softly as he stared emotionlessly at Kiba.

"Um, next?" Kiba gulped. He gestured to girl across from him. She had short brown hair that framed an attractive face arranged into two buns atop her head.

"I'm Tenten, and I am a certified artist with a sniper rifle." She stated proudly.

"You're a certified artist?" Naruto asked amused.

"Yes, I am. One more thing to you perverts on this squad." She said pointing to each of the boys. "You touch my stuff and I'll fucking kill you."

"Starting to like this group already." Naruto mused. "And who's our next contestant?"

"Neji Hyuuga. I'm Tentens spotter." Naruto glanced at Neji he had dark hair kept in short marine regulation length, and had soft milky eyes that resembled another person at the table quite a bit.

"Hey are you related to our field medic over here." Naruto asked looking over at the girl seated next to him. She had almost blue black hair in a bob cut that left a bit of her bangs in her eyes. Naruto also noticed a long pale scar on the side of her neck.

"Yes, she is my sister. Hinata Hyuuga." As he said this Hinata made a series of signs with her hands.

"What's she doing with her hands?" Kiba asked.

"She was injured in combat about a year ago and suffered serious damage to her vocal cords. Sign language is her only manner of communicating now. When we have time I'll be more than happy to teach all of you." Neji answered. Hinata made another series of signs. "She wants me to explain to you that her inability to speak does not diminish her medical skills in the slightest, and she hopes you won't treat her different because of it."

"Well we definitely won't have to worry about you breaking radio silence." Naruto grinned. "Pity, bet you were a screamer." Hinata glared at Naruto before raising her middle finger and slowly rotating it.

"Hinata says you can go fuck yourself." Tenten translated.

"Thanks Tenten, I kinda figured that one on my own."

"God what a mess this squad is." Whispered the last member of the squad. He had short black hair that was swept up in the back giving it a spike look. His hands were clasped in front of his face as he gazed at the squad with dark brooding eyes.

"And what's your name sunshine?" Naruto asked.

"Sasuke Uchiha, Espionage and Sabotage expert, I'm also going to be squad leader."

"Well with that attitude how could we not love you?" Naruto joked.

"And you Dobe? What do you do?"

"Women, but hey if you don't go that way it's cool, I'm not one to judge." Naruto grinned.

"I know a rich boy when I see one. What's the deal? You join the Corp to piss off daddy?" Asked Sasuke.

"Actually I need the money. You know, ever since your mom raised her prices." Naruto shot back.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!" Sasuke screamed as he leapt over the table and tackled Naruto.

"It's gonna be a long 3 months." Neji said as the squad watched the two wrestle on the chow hall floor.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

School of hard knocks

Planet Reach, Fort Hidden Leaves

"So just how bad did Sgt. Johnson punish you guys for fighting on the first day?" Kiba asked. The entire squad was stretching outside of their barracks before their morning workout.

"Kiba it was two weeks ago, why do you insist on hearing that story over and over again?" Sasuke sighed. Kiba started to answer before Naruto beat him to it.

"It was a cold winter's morning when the sarge dragged myself and our fearless leader out of bed at the crack of dawn. I myself was already up and prepared for another glorious day of training, but Sasuke was still asleep and stumbling behind like drunk." Naruto recalled fondly.

"That's not how it happened. Damn it Naruto quit making these ridiculous stories about me. It's bad enough you told the entire fort that I was born with both male and female organs and was raised as a girl till I was seven." Sasuke growled.

"That was pretty good." Kiba laughed.

"Don't encourage him Kiba." Tenten said.

"I'm glad you liked that one Kiba I got a great prank planned for the Sarge, it involves a golden goose and a banjo." Naruto started.

"Troublesome. Now he's never going to shut up." Shikamaru muttered. Off to his side he saw Hinata make a few hand signs. "No, I don't think it's a good idea to drug him Hinata, you never know he may be worse than he is now."

"Hey, I heard that Shikamaru, and you should pay attention to what I'm-DUCK!!!" Naruto screamed. The squad hit the deck just as several rounds hit the wall behind them. Naruto looked up and saw Sgt. Johnson standing over them with a smoking battle rifle in his hands.

"On your feet grunts. Time to go to work."

***

Naruto sprinted ahead and quickly jumped onto the log and carefully balanced himself as he ran across before proceeding to the next obstacle. Behind him Hinata and Kiba crawled under the barb wire as Sgt. Gai fired bounds inches above their heads. The idea was to get you used to having bullets fly past you so that you wouldn't panic in a firefight. Naruto looked ahead and saw Sasuke and Neji climbing a ladder before rappelling down the side of a wall.

"You grunts call this a time? My grandmother could run this course faster." Johnson bellowed.

"I didn't know this course was wheelchair accessible." Naruto replied.

"DROP AND GIVE ME 50 UZUMAKI!!!"

"Serves you right smartass." Sasuke smirked.

"You wanna be squad leader don't you Uchiha? Well then you gotta stay with your squad." Johnson grabbed Sasuke by the collar and tossed him to the ground right next to Naruto.

***

"As an ODST you will be subjected to daunting amounts of Gravitational forces during a drop. So while you're here we are going to put you through several exercises to get your bodies ready for it." Said the technician in a white lab coat. Fifteen minutes later Naruto and Sasuke were seated in a pod in a small circular room. "Okay gentlemen welcome to the juicer. The pod is going to be swung around the room at a high velocity simulating the G forces of an orbital drop. Standard drops cause anywhere from 3 to 6 G's today were going to go up to 2 just to get you started. Here we go boys"

"Try not to pass out on me here." Naruto nudged Sasuke.

"Twenty bucks and a round of beers says you pass out first." Sasuke muttered back.

"You're on." With a loud roar the room came to life and the pod began it lap of the room quickly gaining speed simulating two times earth's gravity. "Did we start yet?" Naruto asked.

"I don't think so. Hey are you guys sure the equipment is working fine?" Sasuke asked the technicians.

"Here I got it." Naruto said as he began pressing switches to increase the speed of the pod. Soon they were at 10 G's. "I think it's working now." Naruto hissed, his face pulled taut nearly forcing his eyes closed.

"Yea It's definatley moving now." Sasuke groaned. The techs in the control room watched as both slowly began to lean to the side before finally passing out. Naruto awoke a moment later when the pod door opened. He opened his tired eyes to see Sgt Johnson staring down angrily at him and Sasuke.

"Sir, which one of us passed out first. I don't owe Sasuke twenty bucks do I?" Naruto slurred dazed.

"No. You both owe me FIFTY!"

***

Week ten of training saw Naruto and his squad sitting in a pelican dropship as they flew over a mountain range. The entire squad was dressed out in heavy coats and hiking boots.

"Ok runts were coming up on your drop point. We're gonna drop you at separate points spread out 20 klicks from base. Get ready for a long hike, survival training begins now." Sgt. Johnson gestured for the first one to come up as the ship came to a stop, hovering over a clearing. Hinata walked up and made several hand signs before she jumped out of the open hatch. "What did she say?" Johnson asked.

"She said that in this light you look like a young Wesley Snipes sir." Naruto answered.

"Uzumaki, if I hear one more word out of you I'll have you doing pushups till you're a senior citizen." Johnson hissed.

Five minutes later, Naruto found himself walking through the woods heading for a nearby river. As he walked he made sure to keep his senses open in case of anything unexpected. It took him twenty minutes to find the river, another thirty to follow it to the lake and finally another thirty minutes for everyone to meet up.

"Great idea for us to follow the river to the lake and meet up Hinata." Tenten said. Hinata flashed her a thumbs up in recognition.

"Okay now that everyone's here, Kiba, take Neji and scout out ahead. Hinata, Shikamaru see what you can scavenge up in the nearby area. Naruto check out the area we came from and make sure the sarge didn't send anything to follow us. Gaara, take Tenten and gather some water from the lake." Said Sasuke. Everyone nodded and quickly went to work. Within fifteen minutes everyone returned. "Ok we don't have much time till sundown so lets get going. Kiba you're the survival expert you got point. Move out." They marched along at a quick pace for several hours in complete silence. Well almost complete silence.

"I'm just saying, why didn't anyone bring a map, or a phone, hell even a candy bar. You know something useful." Naruto complained.

"Well what did you bring that's so useful?" Asked Tenten already more then a little annoyed with Narutos unending chatter.

"I brought a pack of cigarettes." Naruto answered proudly. Hinata looked over at Naruto then made a series a signs at Tenten.

"Hinata is right Naruto, how do you intend to light those?" Naruto opened his mouth to answer then froze as the realization hit him.

"Aww crap. I knew I forgot something."

"It's almost dark guys, let's make camp here." Sasuke called out from the front of the group. It was near midnight when it came time for Naruto and Gaara to take watch. Which led to the two of them sitting on a branch that hung over the camp.

"You don't talk much do you Gaara?" Naruto asked quietly.

"Maybe I think you talk enough for the both of us." Gaara replied.

"Fair enough. So why did you join up anyway?"

"You're not going to stop with the questions are you?" Seeing Naruto nod Gaara sighed. "I guess I'm here for the same reason as you."

"You mean you're here for the awesome cookies every Friday too?" Naruto joked.

"I mean my father is an admiral too." Gaara replied evenly.

"Wow, didn't see that one coming. I guess he thinks about as highly of your service choice as my old man."

"Probably worse. He's not the warm fatherly type."

"Guess we got a lot in common, you know I-Hey what's that over there?" Naruto said suddenly, Gaara followed his line of vision and saw a set of lights off in the distance. "We should probably wake the others and let them know huh." Naruto said quietly.

"Yeah, it would be irresponsible to rush off and have a look ourselves." Gaara agreed.

"So just a quick look then?"

"Yeah."

20 minutes later

"So let me get this straight." Sasuke said wearily having just been woken up. The rest of the squad sat in a circle. "You guys found a Pelican landing craft waiting just over the ridge and you two want to steal it and use it to get back to base."

"Basically yes. You can even tell the Sarge that it was Narutos idea." Gaara offered.

"I say we do it just to see what the Sarge does to Naruto." Kiba suggested.

"Fine. I don't want to spend any longer than I have to in this forest with you anyway." Sasuke scoffed.

A group of three soldiers stood guard around the pelican dropship. Two just underneath the cockpit, and another smoked a cigarette behind the loading ramp. The last guard stood facing the forest when he felt someone tap him on his shoulder.

"Hey, got a light?" He turned quickly and before he could shout Naruto grabbed him and kicked his feet out from under him slamming him into the ground. The other two turned as the heard the scuffle when Neji dropped from the pelican and struck both once in the neck knocking them out instantly. "Nice moves Neji. Where'd you learn that?" Naruto asked.

"Boarding school." Neji answered calmly.

"Is he screwing with me?" Naruto asked as the rest of the squad. Hinata only looked at Naruto and shrugged. Sasuke looked at the pelican and then turned to Naruto and Gaara.

"So when you planned this out did you two figure who would fly."

"Uh oh." Gaara muttered.

"No worry guys. It's troublesome but I can figure it out." Shikamaru muttered.

"This isn't gonna be like your I can ride a unicycle is it?" Tenten asked.

"Just shut up and get in." Gaara growled.

Two hours later the pelican landed roughly in the base and the squad quickly disembarked slightly pale and a little worse for wear. Hinata stepped on to solid ground and made a series of hand signs.

"Agreed Hinata, let us never speak of that flight ever again." Tenten said.

***

That night under pouring rain the squad was ordered to gather up sand bags and staked them neatly into a pile that was nearly 15 feet high. Sgt. Johnson sat in a chair with a full rain coat on while smoking a cigar, observing the squad form a chain and pull another bag to the top of the pile.

"You all had fun stealing my pelican didn't you? How come I don't hear you laughing." Johnson shouted.

"Ha ha ha ha." The squad said in unison as they shivered in their fatigues minus jackets.

"I can't hear you."

"HA HA HA HA HA!"

"Uzumaki." Naruto looked down from the top of the pile as he laid the latest bag down. "You're on top of the world ain't you son. Seeing as how I have better things to do then watch you bunch of losers, like I don't know, scratch my balls I'm going to consider your little punishment over. With that said you and the rest of your accomplices are going back into the forest for the rest of your survival training tomorrow so I suggest you clean this mess up." Johnson got up from his seat and left as the squad groan and began dismantling the large pile.

***

"Welcome to graduation day boys and girls. If by some miracle you pack of fuck ups manage to accomplish your task today you will be ODST." Sgt Johnson growled as he looked over the base training ground now made to simulate an urban enviroment. Sasuke stepped forward.

"Sir. The squad leader would like to know the parameters of the mission. Sir."

"A good question. It's very simple, capture the flag. You need to get the opposing teams flag before they get yours." Johnson answered. The squad was silent for a moment before Naruto spoke up.

"Sir. What's the catch. Sir" The squad tensed for a moment when Johnson grinned.

"The catch is that there will be 4 teams competing against your one. We will be using tactical training rounds for this exercise. Gather your gear and prep for combat you have one hour." Johnson quickly turned to the training ground and headed off. Naruto looked back at the rest of the squad and grinned.

"This is gonna be fun."

"You're crazy. Let's get started people." Sasuke called out.

One hour and fifteen minutes later Naruto and Sasuke leapt over a low wall and crouched behind it. Sasuke looked over to Naruto as his visor switched to clear. Several rounds buzzed over their heads and into the wall.

"Damn it Naruto I told you not to rush over that hill." Sasuke growled.

"It would have been fine if you had been covering me." Naruto retorted.

"Someone had to coordinate with the rest of the team instead of gallivanting off like an overexcited puppy!" Sasuke shouted. At that moment an opposing soldier stepped out from an alleyway aiming in on the two. Without hesitation both opened up with their assault rifles. "Come on we need to move."

Meanwhile Shikamaru and Gaara sat underneath their teams flag each smoking a cigarette. Between them was a scoreboard written on the concrete with some chalk. When two soldiers rounded the corner. Neither Gaara or Shikamaru moved before the soldiers tripped over a wire sending a net down on them shocking them unconscious.

"Two more for me." Shikamaru muttered as he made two more marks on their board. Gaara grinned for a moment and picked up a remote and pressed the button behind them a loud explosion sounded out spraying the area in the same gel that filled their training rounds.

"Three more for me." Gaara said as he took a drag of his cigarette.

On the other side of the training ground Kiba launched himself off one roof onto another right on top of a sniper pair. Without time to raise their weapons the two found themselves in a tangled heap as Kiba tackled both. Kiba came up with one in a sleeper hold and the other facing him with a pistol.

"Drop him or I'll drop you." The one with the pistol said.

"How about not?" The soldier was about to respond when he felt a finger jab him in the neck before he fell to the ground unconscious. Standing behind him Hinata looked at Kiba as he knocked out the other.

"I totally had that under control." Kiba smirked before Hinata merely tilted her head to the side. "Um, but your help was appreciated." Hinata shook her head as she continued on.

Back with Naruto and Sasuke the two found themselves once more pinned down by enemy fire.

"This is ridiculous. We're never gonna get to the flag at this rate. It's too well defended." Sasuke kicked the wall. Naruto looked up at him thoughtfully.

"You know a real man would put it all on the line." Sasuke raised one eyebrow.

"You think the two of us can actually work together?"

"I can manage for two minutes."

"Alright, let's go find a casino."

Sasuke cocked the bolt back on his rifle as Naruto pulled out a pair of pistols. The two came flying out from their cover at full speed Sasuke fired controlled bursts that kept their opponents heads down long enough for Naruto to dash past and fire a single round to each of them. Sasuke tossed a flash bang through a window just before Naruto dove headfirst though it firing blindly at two soldiers inside. Naruto hit one as Sasuke came in behind him catching the last one. Both came out into the backyard where the flag was and saw no one there to guard it. Naruto stepped forward but froze as he felt the muzzle of a gun press into his back. Looking to the side he saw Sasuke in a similar fate.

"End of the line boys. Say goodnight." Laughed one of the soldiers.

"Goodnight." Naruto grinned as he heard the smack of a training round hit one soldier in the head and then the other almost immediately.

"Never know what hit em." Whispered a soft feminine voice on the radio.

"Nice shot Tenten." Sasuke called over the radio. Naruto smiled as he picked up the flag. "Squad leader to all points. Game over. We won."


	3. Chapter 3

AN: I know the last chapter wasn't my best work. It's also evident since I only got 1 review for the last chapter. So to make up for that I have here what is one of the longest chapters I've ever written. Along with the long awaited introduction of Ino. Suggestions and constructive criticism always welcome. Enjoy

AN2: Song for this chapter is Blow Me Away by Breaking Benjamin

Chapter 3:

Harvest

Planet Reach, Fort Hidden Leaf

One week later the squad was gathered at the forts air pad awaiting the drop ship that would take them to their assigned ship. Everyone was dressed in full uniform with their gear placed in several duffle bags between them. Naruto was talking animatedly with Kiba and Gaara when he looked over to the side and saw Sasuke fussing over his newly acquired Sergeant insignia that was pinned to his uniform.

"Aw look at that guys. Have you ever seen someone so impressed with himself?" Naruto smirked.

"It's troublesome, now there will be no living with him." Shikamaru sighed as he walked over to the others.

"You'll never get the stick out of his ass now." Gaara muttered.

"Yea and I thought it was hard getting him to go on shore leave with us before. Now he's probably gonna be all by the book hard ass." Kiba said. Sasuke looked over his shoulder at them and scowled.

"As soon as we get on the ship I'm going to work you like dogs."

Naruto was about to respond when a pelican touched down near them. The squad gathered their gear and moved closer to the pelican as the ramp was extended and the cargo doors opened and a blonde woman with green eyes and her hair arranged in four ponytails walked down dressed in a pilot flight suit.

"Officer on deck!" Sasuke snapped and the squad instantly came to attention.

"Sergeant Uchiha? Corporal Uzumaki?" The blonde question as she stepped in front of them. Sasuke and Naruto responded by saluting. "2nd Lt Temari Shukaku, please don't be so formal." Temari smiled as she returned the salute. "I'll be your pilot today my call sign is wind dancer. I usually specialize in rapid extractions so we're probably going to be working toge- Gaara?" Temari suddenly stopped as she saw Gaara her mouth open and her eyes wide with shock.

"Hello Temari. It's been awhile." Gaara replied calmly.

"Y-Yeah it has. You look good. Um, let's get loaded up shall we." Temari replied softly before she turned back to the ship.

"Oh man Gaara, tell me you didn't let a fine piece of ass like that get away?" Kiba asked elbowing Gaara in the ribs.

"She's my sister Kiba, and if you go near her I'll make sure your pod doesn't make it to the ground." Gaara growled as he grabbed his bags.

"Heheh that's a good one Gaara." Kiba laughed before he considered what Gaara said. "He's just screwing around right?"

"Of course Kiba, Gaara isn't the type to blow you up and make it look like an accident." Naruto said with a fox like grin. Kiba paled slightly.

"Seriously guys, do you think he's messing with me?"

***

The squad was seated in the pelican when it began its takeoff moments later. Hinata cast a curious look at Gaara before making a few signs to Tenten.

"Hinata's right, if your sister's last name is Shukaku does that mean your father is Admiral Shukaku? Tenten asked over the roar of the engines.

"I don't want to talk about it." Gaara muttered calmly.

"The answer to your question is yes." Temari yelled from the cockpit. "When our parents got divorced Gaara left to live with our Mother. He and the Admiral haven't spoken in years. Not since my baby brother punched him and told him the Fleet could go fuck itself."

"Nice." Naruto grinned. Gaara merely stared out the window as they broke thru the atmosphere. Shikamaru tilted his head toward the cockpit.

"So you could probably tell us all sorts of embarrassing stories about Gaara when he was a kid right?" Shikamaru heard Temari laugh.

"Of course." Shikamaru stood up and moved to the cockpit."

"You mind if I join you in the cockpit?" Shikamaru asked.

"NO!" The entire squad shouted with Tenten jumping from her seat and blocking Shikamaru's path.

"You swore to us that under no circumstances would you ever set foot in the cockpit of a pelican again." Tenten growled.

"Troublesome woman I'm not gonna fly." Shikamaru sighed.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Tenten stepped aside and allowed Shikamaru to pass. Naruto smirked and shook his head as he too looked out the window in time to see them approaching a ship as he heard Temari again.

"Boys and girls let me be the first to introduce you to the UNSC cruiser Hokage. Your new home away from home."

***

"The first thing I'm going to do is get some chow. I'm starving." Naruto called out as the squad disembarked from the ship.

"You're always starving Naruto." Tenten pointed out as they left the hangar and headed toward their barracks.

"Hey, a Marine's got to eat." Naruto laughed as he looked over his shoulder causing him to bump into someone and fall to the ground. "Sorry about that, wasn't looking where I was going." Naruto apologized as he held out his hand to the person. When he felt a hand grasp his Naruto finally got a look at the person, and was surprised when he noticed the long blonde hair pulled into a ponytail and sky blue eyes that captivated his. "Um, hi." Naruto stuttered as he helped the girl up. Noticing her attire was a pair of sweat pants and a tank top Naruto guessed she must have just come from the ships gym. The girl raised one eyebrow as she looked Naruto over. "Er, are you ok?"

"I'm fine, no harm done. Just keep your eyes open next time ok?" She smiled as she stepped past Naruto.

"Hey, I didn't get your name." Naruto called out.

"I didn't give it. See you around whiskers."

"I love this ship." Naruto said as he still stared down the hall where the girl had walked off.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever seen Naruto unable to form a sentence." Kiba said. When Naruto heard this he turned around and saw the whole squad staring at him.

"Shut up Kiba. I was just surprised." Naruto snapped.

"Enough, guys. I'd like to get to the barracks sometime today if you don't mind." Sasuke said as he picked up his bags and continued on.

***

A few minutes later the squad found their barracks and quickly began unpacking their gear. When Neji saw someone enter the barracks. He was older than them with white hair pulled into a pony tail and he was wearing glasses.

"You're the new squad right?" He asked?

"Yea that's us." Sasuke answered.

"Then you better get a move on the colonel just called all the squads to muster. Something's going down." Ten minutes later the squad was assembled in the mess hall with the rest o the ODST squads assigned to the Hokage.

"Officer on Deck!" Someone shouted and the entire mess hall snapped to attention. Standing in the doorway was a woman with dark eyes and purple hair pulled back into a spiky ponytail. The other was a tall man with a mask covering half his face and his ODST beret pulled down to cover one eye. She walked amongst the rows of squads till she came to a stop at Naruto and Sasuke.

"My name is Colonel Anko Mitarashi. Behind me is my second in command Captain Kakashi Hatake. I only have one rule for my troops: Everyone fights, no one quits. You will follow all of my orders to the letter. If you don't I'll shoot you myself. Do you get me?" She hissed while looking at each member of the squad.

"WE GET YOU MAM!" The squad shouted as one.

"Welcome to the Helljumpers." Anko grinned.

"HOORAH!" The rest of the squads answered.

"As of right now your squad designation will be Fox. I'm assigning Captain Kakashi to your team for your first few engagements till you get settled. Lieutenant would you like to introduce yourself?" Naruto watched as a familiar blonde stepped out from behind the colonel.

"You." He blurted without a single thought to military protocol.

"Yes me, I'm your squads Coms officer." She said as she tilted her head and took on a placating tone. "That means I'm the little voice in your ear that tells you were not to go so you don't run into an artillery strike. So make sure you listen."

"Promise to talk dirty while you do it." Naruto shot back without thinking. The Lt looked away for a second before spinning on her heal executing a perfect roundhouse kick to Naruto's jaw knocking him to the deck hard.

"Let's get something straight Corporal. My name is Lieutenant Ino Yamanaka, your superior officer, and you will address me as befitting my rank." Ino growled. "Start counting pushups Uzumaki."

"1 Lt Yamanaka, 2 Lt…………………. (Ten minutes later.)… 226 Lt Yamanaka." Naruto continued to count off not showing any signs of growing tired. Anko stepped next to him.

"On your feet trooper." Anko ordered.

"Yes Colonel." Naruto answered sharply as he jumped to attention.

"I bet you did a lot of pushups in basic." Anko mused.

"Yes Colonel."

"Well it is my pleasure to tell you that you will never do another push up again." Anko said smiling.

"Thank you Colonel."

"You are hereby promoted to peeling potatoes." Hearing this Naruto winced. "Get back in formation. Now that we have our introductions out of the way let's get down to business. One month ago at 1423 hrs contact with UNSC planet Harvest was lost. A battle group was sent to investigate. What was found was the near complete destruction of Harvest, and what has been decided to be an alien vessel. All but one ship in the battle group was destroyed. The entire UNSC has mobilized and the largest fleet action in history is about to go down in order to retake the Harvest system. These aliens came looking for a fight, and were gonna give em one. You'll get a full briefing when we reach Harvest. Dismissed!" The squads quickly began to file out. "Oh, I almost forgot, Uzumaki! Report to the kitchens."

***

Naruto entered the barracks later that night rubbing his sore hands. Most of the lights were out since the squad was asleep. Quietly as he could Naruto made his way to his bunk so as not to wake his squad mates.

"So how many potatoes did you have to peel?" Naruto froze from his position over his bed thinking he'd woke everyone up, but looking toward the voice he saw Neji reading a book with a small pen light.

"Not sure, lost count somewhere in the second pot." Naruto whispered scratching the back of his head. "Why are you still up?"

"I'm always the last one to go to sleep, bit of an old habit from looking after Hinata for so many years." Neji whispered back.

"Really, how long have you been looking after Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"Gaara has been acting odd since he heard about Harvest. He's been sitting on his bunk fiddling with his helmet for two hours now." Neji inclined his head toward Gaara's bunk. Knowing he had gotten as much from Neji about his past as he was going to Naruto got up and quietly moved over to Gaara.

"Hey bro, you ok?" Naruto whispered sitting down at the foot of Gaara's bunk. Gaara merely continued to draw something on his helmet. "If there's something bothering you I wish you'd talk to me about it. I don't want you going section 8 on me." Gaara still didn't reply. "I want to stick my tube steak in your sister." Gaara stopped and stared at Naruto emotionlessly.

"What do you have to trade for it?" Gaara asked in a monotone voice before smirking almost invisibly. Naruto grinned widely.

"Seriously, you good?" Naruto asked. Gaara sighed and went back to his helmet.

"My mother was on Harvest." Gaara replied simply. He held his helmet up to Naruto showing a red kanji painted on the left side of the helmet just above the visor. "It means love." He said answering Naruto's unspoken question.

"I'm sorry."

"I'll be ok. Just got to go talk to my sister in the morning." Naruto nodded his head and stood up.

"Get some sleep bro." Naruto said softly as he patted Gaara's shoulder before returning to his own bunk.

***

One week later

UNSC Hokage, Harvest System,

ODST Staging Area 10 minutes till drop.

"Alright squads listen up, I'm only gonna go over this once." Col Anko shouted at the squads surrounding the large holo table in the center of the room. "The Covenant have set up a large amount of AA defenses across the surface." Anko gestured and a map of Harvest appeared above the table. Red dots marking the anti-air weapons. "That means we need to take out enough of them so that the bulk of our ground forces can land. Fortunately we have the perfect little knot of them right here." A set of red were circled and magnified. "They're at the base of a mountain, but if we take these babies out and we'll have a nice little LZ for the Marines to come join the party."

"So we do all the work and Marines get the glory." One ODST joked.

"There will be plenty of fight to around trooper." Kakashi answered calmly. Just then a loud siren began sounding.

"All hands this is Captain Sarutobi, we are entering the combat zone. All hands to battle stations. ODST squads prepare for first phase of the assault. Go get some troopers!" Said the Captain over the intercom.

"We're dropping into hell boys, time to grow a pair." Anko cheerfully called out as she put on her helmet.

"You heard the Colonel, SADDLE UP!" Lt Kurenai shouted. The assembled squads rushed to their pods.

They form a line,  
One at a time,  
Ready to play,  
(I can't see them anyway)  
No time to lose,  
We've got to move,  
Steady the helm.  
(I am losing sight again)

Naruto and the rest of Fox Unit quickly settled in their pods. Naruto looked over to Sasuke whose blue trimmed armor concealed various throwing knives. Likewise Naruto had his armor highlighted with orange stripes and a combat knife strapped to his chest. The two looked at each other for a moment before nodding and stepping in their pods. Gear and weapons safely stowed. Red lights flashed before the pods began closing up. Naruto sat in darkness for a moment before the pods systems began coming online one at a time bathing him in the soft blue light of the heads up screens.

"Fox Unit check in." Sasuke called.

"Gaara, check."

"Naruto here, I'm thirsty can I have a soda."

"Neji here, Naruto shut up for 5 minutes will you."

"Tenten here, can we mute Naruto's com, permanently?"

"Troublesome, Shikamaru check."

"Kiba, good to go. Troublesome Shikamaru, that could be your new nickname." Two clicks followed over the com signifying Hinata checking in.

"Cut the chatter or I'll mute all of you." Sasuke growled.

Fire your guns,  
It's time to roll,  
Blow me away,  
(I will stay in the mess I made)  
After the fall,  
We'll shake it off,  
Show me the way.

"Captain Kakashi here. Control do you copy?"

"Control copies Fox Unit. I'll lose contact with you as you pass through the atmosphere. I'll link back up with you after you hit the ground. Good luck." Ino replied.

"God she has a sexy voice." Naruto mused.

"Your com is still open Corporal Uzumaki." Ino said sweetly. Naruto winced before being jarred as his pod moved into position. Naruto heard two beeps and on the third his pod was shot violently from the ship. From the clear screen in the pod Naruto could see a massive space battle raging above them. Everything from carriers to small single man craft from both sides fought.

"My god." Tenten breathed and Naruto saw what she meant as a Covenant ship fired what looked like a blue fireball that ripped thru a UNSC destroyer like it was made of paper.

Only the strongest will survive,  
Lead me to heaven when we die,  
I am a shadow on the wall,  
I'll be the one to save us all

The pod shook violently again as it passed through the atmosphere. An almost deafening roar accompanied the sight of a blue sky and large sun.

"Adjust course six degrees south." Kakashi calmly ordered. "3000 meters to target engage drag chutes." Another jolt of deceleration and Naruto could begin t make out armored shapes rushing out from a series of odd purple gun emplacements and barricades. "1500 meters, rocket burn, now." The next thing Naruto knew he felt one last jolt and the hatch to his pod blew off. Training kicked in and Naruto burst forth bringing his assault rifle up and opening fire as a series of short bipedal creatures came rushing out from behind the barricades. Grunts, Intel called them. Off to the side Naruto could hear the three shot burst of Neji and Hinata's Battle Rifles. The creatures returned fire and Naruto dove behind a series of rocks narrowly avoiding a green energy blast.

"Oh he did not just shoot that green shit at me!" Naruto cursed as he fired from behind cover. To the side of him he saw Tenten un sling her sniper rifle and adjust the scope.

There's nothing left,  
So save your breath,  
Lying in wait.  
(Caught inside this tidal wave)  
Your cover's blown,  
Nowhere to go,  
Holding your fate.  
(Loaded I will walk alone)

"Ready to play horse?" Neji asked softly.

"Call the shot baby." Tenten answered with a grin as she went prone and sighted up the enemy forces.

"Spotter on the hover pad 11 O'clock." One crack of the rifle.

"Tango down."

"Sniper same pad 1 O'clock." 'Crack'

"Tango down. Sweet, headshot."

"Bird looking mother fucker behind the barricade 3 O'clock." 'Crack'

"Tango down. Come on give me a hard one."

"That's what she said." Naruto quipped.

"Not now Naruto." Neji growled. "Gunner right tower." 'Crack'

"Nice shooting Tenten." Sasuke called. Suddenly a massive explosion hit a group of rocks near them.

"TANK!!" shouted an ODST before another round obliterated him and his cover.

"KIBA! TAKE THAT FUCKING TANK OUT!!!" Sasuke screamed pointing out a Covenant tank that had just moved onto a ridge above them.

"ALL OVER IT SARGE!" Kiba shouted as he shouldered his jackhammer rocket launcher. Kiba fired both rockets with deadly precision scored two direct hits destroying the tank.

Fire your guns,  
It's time to roll,  
Blow me away,  
(I will stay in the mess i made)  
After the fall,  
We'll shake it off,  
Show me the way.

"WE GOT THEM ON THE ROPES! TIME TO TAKE IT TO EM! COME ON YOU APES, YOU WANNA LIVE FOREVER?!!!" Screamed Colonel Anko from the rock formation just behind Fox Unit. The entire platoon of ODST squads screamed and charged as one. A hailstorm of gunfire ripped thru the Covenant defenses. Naruto ducked underneath several pink crystals that had been shot at him before opening up with his rifle.

"Fox Unit, this is control do you copy?" Naruto heard Ino over the radio.

"Copy princess go ahead!" Naruto shouted shooting another grunt before moving ahead to the next piece of cover he could find.

"I'm marking the AA weapon you guys need to take out on your nav marker now." Ino said ignoring Naruto's comment.

"Copy control, Fox is Oscar Mike." Sasuke answered. "NEJI, TENTEN, HINATA SUPPRESIVE FIRE TO THE RIGHT SIDE. NARUTO KIBA TAKE POINT, SHIKAMARU, GAARA YOU'RE WITH ME. TIME TO MEET THE NEIGHBORS!!

"HOORAH!" The squad chorused. Naruto and Kiba rushed to the tower that housed the objective. They made it to the door and turned back laying down cover fire for the others to catch up. Gaara stepped forward and placed a shape charge on the door. Kiba pulled his shotgun from his back.

"I like to keep this for close encounters." He grinned at Naruto.

Only the strongest will survive,  
Lead me to heaven when we die,  
I am a shadow on the wall,  
I'll be the one to save us all.

"BREACH!" Sasuke snapped. Gaara detonated the charge and the door imploded. Naruto and Kiba rushed through the door several quick shots were popped off hitting the stunned grunts that had been behind the door.

"ENTRY CLEAR!" Naruto called. Quickly the squad ran up the stairs. Coming to the top control room they saw two of the birdlike aliens working the controls. The squawked in surprise and reached for their weapons.

"LIGHT EM UP!!!" Sasuke ordered. It was over as quickly as it started. "Control this is Fox, be advised alpha objective is secure. We're placing the charges now."

"Copy Fox, good work." Ino replied. Gaara began placing charges as Shikamaru looked over the console.

"Shit!" Shikamaru exclaimed.

"What?" Naruto asked. Shikamaru gestured to the screen and Naruto saw a large group of Covenant tanks were about to come around the other side of the mountain right into firing position. Sasuke pressed his hand to his ear.

"Control this is Fox, we have a large amount of Covenant artillery about to come down on us we need immediate air support." Sasuke said.

"Negative fox. All air support is either tied up in the space battle or being utilized for the ground forces deployment. I'm afraid you're on your own for now."

"Hey Sarge, did command just tell us to go fuck ourselves?" Naruto asked.

"Pretty much." Sasuke growled.

"Well fuck that. Shikamaru can you work this thing?" Naruto asked gesturing to the controls for the cannon.

"Shouldn't be too much trouble, the controls look pretty simple." Shikamaru answered.

"Good, Gaara you're the demo expert, where do we need to shoot this bad boy to cause a landslide that'll bury those tanks?" Gaara looked over the map for a moment before pointing out a spot. "What do you say Sarge?"

"Bury them." Sasuke ordered. Shikamaru fired demolishing the side of the mountain bringing it all down on top of the Covenant forces. Kiba gave a whoop of joy and Naruto clapped Shikamaru on the back.

Wanted it back  
(Don't fight back God)

(Back off)

(Die)

Only the strongest will survive,  
Lead me to heaven when we die,  
I am a shadow on the wall,  
I'll be the one to save us all.

Save us all!

"Control, this is Fox, LZ Alpha is secure."

"Copy Fox, good work down there."

"Boy am I glad that's over." Shikamaru sighed.

"What do you mean Shikamaru? We're just getting started down here." Naruto grinned.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Overdue Library Book

Glossary

ODST – Orbital Drop Shock Troop

UNSC – United Nations Space Command

ONI – Office of Naval Intelligence

HUD – Heads up Display

Oscar Mike – On the Move

Hotel Charlie – Harvest Capital

Sitrep – Situation Report

VISR – Visual Information System Relay

Wilco – Will Comply

Klick – Kilometer

Naruto and the rest of Fox squad sat in the shade of the mountain they had just cleared of enemy troops catching a few moments of rest. Shikamaru and Gaara were smoking while lying on their backs staring at the sky, Neji and Tenten broke down their rifle giving them some quick on the spot maintenance, and Hinata sat off to the side checking her medical supplies with Kiba's help. Sasuke sat on a rock slightly away from the rest of the squad reloading his spare magazines, he was the only one still wearing his helmet, thought he did leave his visor on the clear setting.

"Catch Sarge." Sasuke turned and instinctively raised his hand to catch the canteen tossed his way. Naruto sat next to Sasuke placing his helmet and rifle between his legs for quick access. Sasuke smirked and pulled his helmet off then took a few gulps of the water in the canteen.

"What's the Sitrep with the other squads?" Sasuke asked handing the canteen back to Naruto.

"Alpha and Bravo came out mostly intact but Charlie and Delta took a beating. Echo squad is gathering the wounded for evac." Naruto answered taking a swig of the canteen.

"Yes, it seems we were the lucky ones." A voice called out behind Sasuke and Naruto. Both turned to see Kakashi walking up to them.

"Your late Captain, you missed all the fireworks." Sasuke said calmly.

"Yes well I got a little sidetracked after the drop. You see a black cat crossed my path so I took the long way around the enemy." Kakashi answered seeming to smile with his one visible eye.

"Oh what a load of bullshit." Naruto exclaimed. "You got lost didn't you? Either that or you waited till the shooting stopped to come out of your pod."

"Careful Corporal, you're addressing a superior officer." Kakashi warned.

"Really? What kind of Captain doesn't wear a helmet during a combat drop?" Naruto asked pointing out Kakashi's lack of an ODST helmet.

"Maybe I'm claustrophobic." Kakashi hissed narrowing his eye. Any further comment by Naruto was cut short when they heard Gaara call out.

"Pelican drop ships coming in Sarge." The squad looked up and saw several hundred pelicans descend down on the mountain range dropping off vehicles and troops.

"Control calling Fox unit, please respond. Repeat: Control calling Fox." Sasuke heard a voice coming from his helmet. Quickly he grabbed his helmet and put it on.

"This is Fox, go ahead Control."

"New orders just came down from ONI; your unit is to proceed to Hotel Charlie. Admiral Cole wants any information that could lead the Covenant to anymore of our colonies scrapped ASAP. Your objective is the local library." Ino said as relevant pictures scrolled across Sasuke's HUD.

"Wilco Control. We'll get it done." Sasuke turned to Naruto. "Gather the squad and get us some Warthogs Naruto."

"Stow your gear people we're Oscar Mike, Let's go!" Naruto shouted happily, and the squad instantly snapped to their duties grabbing their gear and putting their helmets on.

***

Ino sat at her station onboard the UNSC Hokage, bathed in the blue glow of several holo screens that showed various information on her squad. Including Vitals, GPS, and a view from their helmet cams. Her fingers danced across her keyboards as she heard footsteps approach behind her. Captain Sarutobi walked calmly onto the logistics deck and watched the officers go about their duties. He had given them standing orders not to stop their work when he entered knowing how important their work was. A young woman with blue hair pulled into a tight bun walked up to the captain and saluted.

"Lt Commander Konan, how is the deployment proceeding?" Sarutobi asked returning the salute.

"Proceeding within the acceptable timetable Captain. The ODST squads cleared a good landing point for us." Konan replied.

"Good, now that Admiral Cole has taken out the Covenant Carrier we just need to retake the ground while they're without reinforcements." Sarutobi mused as he lit his pipe. "Speaking of our ODST squads, who have we sent on that mission Admiral Cole ordered?"

"Fox Unit of the 597th was deployed for that mission." Konan answered. 597th being the name of the ODST battalion assigned to the Hokage.

"Fox? I don't believe I'm familiar with that squad." Sarutobi replied.

"They had just arrived when we were ordered to the Harvest System sir. Lt Yamanaka is their Control Officer." Konan gestured to Ino's station. Ino turned from her station and saw the Captain and her superior standing behind her. Quickly she hopped out of her seat and snapped a salute.

"As you were." Sarutobi said calmly. "Lt bring up the data on Fox's Commanding Officers."

"Aye Captain." Ino said as she tapped a few keys and Sasuke and Naruto's file appeared on screen. "Sgt Uchiha is in command of Fox unit sir, his training record states that he graduated at the top of his ODST class with exceptional skill with throwing knives. His second in command is Corporal Uzumaki, Graduated second in his class though it's noted that he has a penchant for disobeying orders that he doesn't agree with, and is often borderline insubordinate, something I can personally attest to. The only person he's noted to follow orders from is Sgt Uchiha. Corporal Uzumaki is also the current Marine Corp knife fighting champion." Ino stated.

"Uzumaki you say?" Sarutobi mused as he stared at Naruto's picture before chuckling softly. "I see, carry on Lt." Sarutobi said before turning and heading off the deck. Ino heard someone giggling softly in the station next to her.

"What's so funny Karin?" Ino asked the glasses wearing redhead.

"Insubordination huh? Where I come from its called flirting." Karin said standing up and walking over to Ino.

"I have not been flirting, and neither has he. He just can't stop talking." Ino huffed.

"Well why not? I mean he is kind of cute in a primitive sort of way." Karin said appraising the picture of Naruto.

"Primitive? Please, with those whisker marks he has a far more exotic look." Ino replied.

"So he's not cute in a primitive way?"

"No."

"But he is in an exotic way?"

"Yes, I mean no!" Ino clapped her hand over her mouth realizing what she said.

"Thought so." Karin laughed as she walked back to her station.

"Fox to Control." Sasuke called over the radio.

"Go ahead Fox." Ino replied.

"You left your com on."

***

Back on Harvest a pair of Warthog jeeps raced through a procession of scorpion tanks before breaking off and heading down a side road. Naruto drove the lead Warthog with Kakashi riding alongside. Kiba was in the rear gunner position. Sasuke drove the second Warthog with Neji seated beside him, instead of a chain gun in the back was a bench allowing the rest of the squad to ride semi comfortably.

"I'm just saying, it doesn't look like a warthog to me." Shikamaru muttered.

"If it doesn't look like a warthog what does it look like then?" Tenten asked.

"I don't know, a puma I guess." Shikamaru replied.

"What the fuck is a puma?" Kiba asked over their helmet radios.

"It's a big cat, kinda like a lion." Shikamaru answered.

"You just made that up didn't you." Neji said looking over his shoulder at Shikamaru

"I did not. It's a real animal." Shikamaru growled.

"Hey Shikamaru, do you see the tow hooks on the front? Those look like tusks, do know of any animal other than a warthog that has tusks?" Sasuke asked.

"A walrus." Shikamaru replied easily.

"Damnit Shikamaru stop making up animals." Kiba snapped.

"You guys are dicks." Shikamaru muttered.

"Ok then, were gonna stick with warthog unless someone has any other animals they'd like to suggest." Neji said. "Well Shikamaru? Anything else? Unicorn perhaps?"

"No." Shikamaru growled.

"Phoenix?" Tenten asked.

"No."

"Bigfoot?" Kiba offered.

"No."

"Leprechaun?" Said Naruto.

"No."

"Hey Gaara, what's that Mexican monster that eats the goats?" Sasuke asked.

"Chupacabra." Gaara answered.

"Hey Shikamaru Chupathingee how bout that one?" Sasuke asked.

"You know what? Fuck all you guys."

***

Later the squad arrived at the city outskirts just as Harvest's sun began to set. The Warthogs continued on their path towards the library. Kakashi coordinating their direction with Ino's assistance.

"Lots of good places for an ambush here Sarge." Neji said looking at the rooftops of the tall buildings with his binoculars.

"Shikamaru, give me eyes." Sasuke ordered. Shikamaru nodded and loaded an odd looking shell into the grenade launcher on the bottom of his Battle Rifle. Taking aim Shikamaru fired it into the air. A high pitched whistling sound accompanied it for a moment before fading.

"Sonar recon up. Feed coming back to us now… uploading to VISR system." Shikamaru said consulting his tech pad.

"Alright people VISR up." Sasuke ordered. The squad adjusted the HUD to VISR mode and watched as the terrain was outlined in yellow lines and quasi night vision. A small map of the city appeared in the bottom corner. "The library is designated Nav marker Alpha." The warthogs continued on their path.

"What kind of system is that you're running on your helmets?" Kakashi asked.

"It's a system Shikamaru came up with when he was still a Marine. It uses a combination of sonar mapping and uploaded blueprints to enhance the visual feed in our helmets." Kiba answered.

"INCOMING!!!" Before anyone could react a large green energy blast struck in between the Warthogs tossing them into the air, their passengers hurled from their seats. Sasuke landed hard and scrambled to find some cover.

"FOX UNIT SOUND OFF!" Sasuke screamed. The squad instantly replied back letting him know everyone was okay. They were lucky; their high impact ODST armor had saved them all from serious injury. Kakashi stepped around the overturned warthog adjusting his beret.

"We've got to move quickly. We're just a few klicks from the objective." Kakashi said consulting his GPS. The squad gathered near the downed warthogs. "We'll just have to proceed on foot. We've got a good head start, and I believe that was a long range missile attack of some sort. So that means we have a good five minutes before-UGH!" Kakashi suddenly cried out and dropped to the ground a large steel spike embedded in the side of his skull.

"AMBUSH! TAKE COVER!" Naruto yelled and the squad threw themselves to the ground behind whatever cover they could find.

"Tenten shooter on the roof!" Tenten took aim on the large gorilla like alien that Sasuke pointed out. Her rifle jerked once and she saw the creature clutch his arm and disappear over the roof.

"MEDIC!" Shikamaru shouted. Hinata rushed over the other side of one of the Warthogs and crouched over Kakashi's fallen body.

"Sarge! We got enemy infantry pouring out of that mall over there." Neji calmly reported. Waves of enemy Grunts began rushing out of the mall.

"Goddamn covies laid a trap for us!" Naruto cursed.

"Hinata what's the status of the Captain?" Sasuke asked. Hinata looked up and shook her head. Sasuke swore under his breath. "Gaara, NUKE EM!" Gaara nodded and pulled what appeared to be a red pulsing grenade round which he proceeded to load into his Battle Rifle's grenade launcher.

"Nuke em? What the hell does that mean?" Kiba asked. Gaara stepped out from behind cover and launched the grenade into a graceful arc that took it into the mall over 200 yards away.

"Just something I've been playing with in my spare time. Now everybody get down and cover your heads." Gaara and the rest of the squad ducked down behind a low wall. After a few seconds nothing happened and Kiba stood up looking at the mall. "Kiba get down! It's gonna be big!" Gaara warned.

"Is it gonna be today?!" Kiba shouted back. As soon as he finished his sentence the mall exploded in a massive fireball that rose up. Kiba was instantly thrown back as the shockwave hit.

"Does that answer your question?" Gaara asked. Gaara was about to say something else when he noticed a soft rumbling beneath his feet that was slowly increasing. "Oh fuck. Sarge we gotta go NOW!" Gaara took off sprinting at full speed. The squad not knowing what was happening but trusting in their squad mate followed.

"Gaara what the fuck are we running from?" Tenten asked looking over her shoulder as he ran.

"I overestimated the city foundation. Apparently the city architecture can't take a small thermonuclear explosion." Gaara answered.

"Human terms Gaara." Naruto shouted.

"The center part of the city is about to collapse into the sewer system." As if on cue the concrete began cracking and breaking apart. Behind them a deafening boom erupted as several building began to fall.

"KEEP MOVING!" Sasuke screamed before he dodged a piece of falling debris.

"HEY GAARA, HOW ABOUT NEXT TIME YOU JUST LET THE COVIES KILL US INSTEAD OF DROPING A FUCKING CITY ON OUR HEADS?" Naruto shouted hopping over and abandoned car.

"FINE THEN, SEE IF I SAVE YOUR ASS THE NEXT TIME AN ARMY OF GRUNTS IS BEARING DOWN ON YOU!" Gaara shouted back. The building just behind them came crashing down.

"JUST A LITTLE FURTHER AND WE'LL BE BEYOND THE CENTRAL SEWER SYSTEM!" Shikamaru shouted.

"THROUGH THAT BUILDING!" Sasuke pointed to a building directly in front of them. Kiba pushed ahead throwing his shoulder into the door knocking it down. "OUT THE BACK! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" Sasuke was the last thru the doorway; the building behind them collapsed falling on the building they were in. Kiba still in front came to a large window on the other side that led to a park. Kiba leapt through the window the squad followed, building falling down around them. Sasuke dove out the broken window as the last wall fell and the whole building came tumbling down blanketing the area in dust.

"Did everyone make it?" Sasuke asked gasping for breath.

"We're all here Sarge." Kiba answered.

"Just another day in the corp." Naruto muttered.

"Hoorah." The squad groaned tiredly as they sat down to catch they're breath.

"Control to Fox please respond." Came Ino's slightly frantic voice over the radio.

"This is Fox, go ahead Control." Sasuke replied.

"Finally, I've been trying to contact you guys for the past fifteen minutes. Ever since you entered the city something has been jamming me." Ino said quickly.

"Yeah, we got ambushed by a Covenant force when we arrived." Naruto explained.

"Copy Fox, any casualties?"

"The Captain didn't make it." Sasuke said softly.

"Copy that Fox." Ino said quietly.

"On your feet troopers. We still got a job to do." Sasuke stood wiping the dust off his helmet.

It was a short march from there to the library. From this point on Fox stuck to the shadows and back alleys wary of another ambush. Sasuke and Naruto hoped that the damage to the interior of the city would make it difficult for the Covenant to track them. So far they hadn't seen any further sign of Covenant activity.

"Ok we're here." Shikamaru said staring up at a large building that looked more like a church than a library.

"Standard procedure people. Naruto, you're on point." Sasuke ordered. Shikamaru stepped forward and put his hand on the door knob and shifted to the side. Kiba and Naruto lined up on the other side of the door. Shikamaru held up three fingers and counted down. On one he yanked the door open and Naruto and Kiba dashed thru splitting up as they crossed the threshold.

"Clear left."

"Clear right." The rest of Fox entered behind them weapons sweeping the lobby.

"Shikamaru, where's the objective?" Sasuke asked.

"Computer server is in a room at the other end of this floor." Shikamaru answered.

"Alright that's where we're going then. Naruto take Kiba and Neji and clear out the upper floors. Shikamaru, lead the way" Sasuke said. Naruto and his group headed up the stairs while Shikamaru led them to the back of the library. Once they got there Shikamaru plugged his tech pad into the computer server.

"We got a problem Sarge. The power to the terminal is out, and I can't wipe the server." Shikamaru muttered.

"Can't I just blow it up?" Gaara asked.

"Negative, ONI doesn't want to take the risk of enemy forces recovering the data from the wreckage. Did you get all that Control?" Sasuke asked.

"Copy Fox. There should be a backup generator in the basement. You'll have to go down there and manually start it up though." Ino replied.

"Wilco Control. Gaara take Hinata and set up a welcome mat at the entrance. Covenant forces will be here soon. Shikamaru be ready to scrap the data as soon as I get the power back on."

Sasuke took off toward the maintenance stairs and found the entrance down into the basement. As he entered the pitch black basement his VISR system calibrated itself and cast the room in an eerie yellow glow. His eyes swept the room corner to corner following the marker on his map he quickly found the generator. Setting his Assault Rifle down Sasuke began to pull the cord trying to start the generator. After several tries he was about to give up when he heard a soft click behind him. Years of military instinct kicked in and Sasuke dove to the side narrowly dodging a green energy beam that cut through the space where his head once an instant before. Sasuke hit the ground and rolled before coming up and drawing a throwing knife. Without fully standing Sasuke twisted in place and tossed the blade. The bird-like Jackal standing at the end of the basement squawked once as the blade lodged itself in between its eyes before collapsing in a heap to the ground. Sasuke swore and picked up his rifle just as he heard his radio beep.

"Heads up Sarge! We got Covies inbound!" Naruto shouted over the com.

"Yeah I know, I just had a run in with a Jackal down here." Sasuke turned around and struck the side of the generator jumpstarting it. "Power's back on Shikamaru get to work. Everyone else form up in the lobby, we'll hold them there till the job is done."

Sasuke ran up the stairs and met the rest of the squad in the lobby. Naruto and Kiba were tossing furniture in a pile creating makeshift cover. Sasuke hopped behind the reception counter and trained his rifle on the door. Outside an ominous rumbling steadily grew louder, short bark like noises could be heard just outside. Sasuke looked over at Gaara and nodded. Gaara grabbed his detonator and pressed a button. The resulting explosion of several pounds of explosives placed in the parking lot on numerous abandoned vehicles resulted in the creation of a dozen 2 ton frag grenades. The front doors rattled from the shock and then only the cries of wounded were heard before another noise emerged. A loud angry roar swept across the library and slowly along with it the angry roar of a large group of Covenant rushing for the door.

"Shikamaru, it's about to get very crowded here." Naruto said over the com.

"Troublesome blonde I'm working as fast as I can." Shikamaru snapped.

"Work faster." Sasuke growled.

*BOOM*

The front door shook as something heavy slammed up against it.

*BOOM*

"Steady." Sasuke cautioned.

*BOOM*

"Steady." Then suddenly the doors burst inward and a horde of grunts rushed in.

"KILL EM ALL!"

The lobby was filled with the sounds of bullets being fired and the smell of ozone as energy weapons discharged. The Grunts were cut down by the dozens as they ran through the doorway right into the combined firepower of Fox squad. However, they were steadily depleting their ammo.

"FRAG OUT!" Naruto yelled. Kiba and Gaara tossed a pair of grenades out the doorway and were rewarded with a pair of muffled explosions outside.

"Job's done Sarge. Virus uploads complete." Shikamaru called out.

"EVERYONE FALL BACK! Naruto call us in a ride!" Sasuke shouted.

"Fox to Control, we need an evac ASAP!" Naruto shouted as he ran down the hall catching up with Shikamaru in the main library area. Naruto stopped when he thought he heard something behind him. Just as he turned around a large creature crashed through the window next to him. It stood nine feet tall resembling a gorilla covered in deep blue armor and holding a black pistol like weapon with blades on the bottom. ONI called them Brutes. It bellowed a challenge and raised its weapon.

"NARUTO MOVE!" Sasuke screamed and slammed into Naruto pushing him out of the way. The brute swung its weapon striking Sasuke in the side of the head with its blades shattering his visor. Sasuke cried out in pain and was knocked off his feet landing five feet away. The Brute roared again and tried to raise his weapon again but tackled by Kiba and Neji at the knees. Hinata followed up leaping on the Brute's chest knocking it to the ground before she shoved her rifle in its mouth and squeezed the trigger.

Naruto looked over and saw Sasuke lying on the ground blood dripping out of his helmet. Naruto clenched his teeth and looked back at the entrance watching as several Jackals entering. Naruto suddenly saw red and charged the Jackals drawing his combat knife. The first raised its plasma pistol, but Naruto was already too close. He ducked low and stabbed the Jackal in the chest, and spun swinging his knife upward slashing thru the second. He grabbed the third holding his blade against its neck using it as a shield the other Jackals began trying to shoot Naruto through their own comrade. Naruto tossed his shield into one jackal and tackling another stabbing it in the ribs as he went down. As Naruto hit the ground he rolled to the side and drew his pistol shooting a jackal standing over him in the head. Still from his back Naruto fired three more rounds killing two Grunts as they ran into the room. Naruto stood up and without looking shot the last Jackal that was pinned beneath one of his fallen brethren. Naruto calmly flicked the green blood from his knife before sheathing it. Naruto turned toward the squad when he looked to his side and saw one of the large bookshelves suddenly tilt and start to fall over. Naruto cursed and dove barely avoiding being buried underneath the bookshelf. Standing on the other side loomed a massive being nearly ten feet tall, clad in almost medieval armor, and carrying a shield nearly as big as it was. Its other arm seemed to end in a large cannon.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me." Naruto cursed. The cannon began to glow as it charged up. "INCOMING!" Naruto screamed and dove once more dodging the massive energy blast that ripped at the floor and everything else in its path. The rest of the squad opened up with their weapons, but the bullets bounced harmlessly off its shield and armor. Taking a huge gamble and praying he was right about the creature's weak spot Naruto sprinted around the back of his squad.

"KIBA! SHOTGUN!" Naruto yelled as he ran past. With barley a pause in his fire Kiba grabbed his shotgun and tossed it behind him. Naruto snatched it in midair as he passed. Running hard around the bookshelves till he came to be behind the creature Naruto began firing the shotgun as fast as he could into its back. Bright orange blood splattered Naruto as he kept firing. The shotgun ran dry as Naruto got within arm's reach. Dropping the shotgun Naruto grabbed a grenade of his belt, yanked the pin, and shoved it into the hole he'd made in its back. Just when Naruto released his hold on the grenade the creature swung its shield arm back smashing Naruto full force sending him crashing through one bookshelf and into another. Dazed, Naruto looked up and through his blood splattered visor saw the creature aim its weapon at him. The weapon reached full charge just as it's back exploded. Naruto let his head fall to the floor as the creature collapsed. Dimly Naruto thought he heard someone shouting his name. Everything started to grow fuzzy and the only thing Naruto could hear was a high pitched whistle in his ears. Naruto weakly tried to stand as he saw Kiba come running up to him. The last thing he saw was Kiba looking down on him before he blacked out.

"SHIT! Naruto's down!" Kiba swore.

"Get him back over here.' Neji ordered. "What about Sasuke?"

"Hinata's got him stabile." Tenten replied. Kiba hoisted Naruto on his shoulder and ran back to where the rest of the squad was holding up. Kiba laid Naruto next to Sasuke and Hinata began to check his injuries.

"MORE CONTACTS COMING THROUGH THE DOOR!!!" Shikamaru screamed. Everyone immediately opened fire. Suddenly they heard a crackle on the radio followed by a voice.

"Fox Unit, this is Pelican 642: Wind Dancer, do you copy?"

"Copy Wind Dancer. I hope your nearby cause we're not gonna be able to hold up much longer." Neji answered.

"Roger that Fox. ETA for evac two minutes." Temari replied.

"You heard her. Two minutes, hold the line!" Neji shouted. Bullets ripped at the walls and tore through the Covenant ranks as they filed through.

"I'M OUT!" Shikamaru screamed as he ran out of ammo.

"HERE!" Gaara tossed him a magazine. Hinata ran dry as well and picked up Sasuke's rifle and continued to fire. Tenten was down to her pistol.

"LAST FRAG!" Kiba called and tossed his grenade. Its explosion was then followed by several loud thumps above them.

"Those weren't explosions." Gaara mused. Hinata flashed several signs at Shikamaru and his eyes widened.

"FUCK! They're on the roof!" Shikamaru cursed.

"Temari, the LZ is hot! Abort evac! Repeat, abort the evac!" Gaara shouted in the com.

"NEGATIVE! YOU GET YOUR ASS TO THAT ROOF! I'LL WORRY ABOUT THE LZ!" Temari screamed back.

"Temari it's no good we're surrounded. We'll never make it to the top!" Gaara argued.

"I'M GETTING YOU OUT OF THERE EVEN IF I HAVE TO FLY THIS SHIP THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR. NOW YOU GOT 30 SECONDS, MOVE YOUR ASSES!"

"Understood." Gaara growled out.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered. Then he turned to Gaara. "I think I'm starting to like your sister."

"You stay away from my sister you lazy bum." Gaara hissed.

"Guys, plan the wedding later. Right now let's get the fuck out of here." Tenten pleaded.

"Kiba grab Naruto, I'll get Sasuke. We're gonna go full speed to the roof and just punch through anything in our way." Neji shouted grabbing Sasuke and throwing him over his shoulder. Hinata and Tenten took point. Their guns flashing as they fired on any Covenant that stood in their path. Running full speed up two flights of stairs enemies at their back energy weapons and explosive needles bursting all around them. Finally, they reached the top Hinata and Tenten hit the door together taking it off its hinges, and came face to face with about twenty heavily armed Jackals. Everyone froze for an instant. The Jackals already had their weapons raised.

"HIT THE DECK!!!" Boomed a Temari's voice over a loudspeaker as the Pelican rose up over the edge of the building. The squad instantly complied and dropped to the ground. Just in time as Temari tore through the Jackals with the Pelicans auto guns. The Pelican rotated and the rear opened up allowing Fox to board.

"Everybody strap in, it's gonna be a rough ride!" Temari shouted from the cockpit. The rear hatch already closing.

"We're good to go!" Tenten shouted as soon as everyone was situated. Everyone was thrown back in their harnesses as Temari gunned the engines. The Pelican roared across the rooftops before starting to gain altitude.

"I thought Pelican pilots were supposed to have a copilot?" Neji asked.

"We are but no one will fly with me." Temari answered. The eyes of everyone in the squad widened and they glanced at each other.

"Temari, why won't anyone fly with you?" Gaara asked warily.

"Well the thing is- SHIT!" Temari swore and the Pelican shuddered before banking hard and diving back down to the city.

"What the problem?" Tenten shouted over the roar of the engines.

"We got a pair of Covenant Banshee on our tail!" Temari shouted. The Pelican leveled off as it reached the city and began passing dangerously close to buildings.

"Then why the hell did we come back down in the city!?" Tenten screamed.

"Because we can't outrun them! They're faster in open air then we are. The only shot we have is to lose them in the city." Temari explained. A green ball of energy exploded above them and smaller blue energy beams splashed of the Pelicans armor.

"So let me get this straight. We're being chased by two ships that are smaller and faster and your plan is to out maneuver them inside the city?" Shikamaru asked calmly.

"Yes." Temari banked hard to the side again barely avoiding hitting the tower she passed.

"I'm starting to see why your sister flies alone." Shikamaru said to Gaara. The whole cabin area spun as Temari executed a barrel role. When everything righted itself the squad saw another green plasma bomb hit a support beam on a bridge in front of them. The resulting explosion caused a chain event that had the bridge collapsing.

"LEFT!" Tenten shouted.

"RIGHT!" Neji shouted.

"STOP!" Kiba closed his eyes.

"LET ME DRIVE DAMNIT!!!" Temari screamed. She pushed the engines to full and dove as low as she could actually bouncing the ship off the water and made it under the collapsing bridge. One of the Banshee tried to follow her and wasn't as successful. "That's one down!" Temari laughed.

"Ah to hell with it." Shikamaru pulled off his helmet and released his restraints.

"Shikamaru what are you doing?" Neji asked. Shikamaru stumbled as the ship continued dodging the enemy fighter before he made it to the cockpit. Temari looked incredulously at him.

"You need a copilot." He said simply as he sat down and strapped in. Temari merely nodded. "Hard left." Temari complied and found them coming upon a narrow space between two tall buildings.

"OH SHIT! EVERYONE THINK SKINNY!" Temari angled the Pelican completely sideways and held her breathe. The Pelican groaned as it scraped the sides of the buildings narrowly passing through.

"I GOT AN IDEA! WHY DON'T YOU JUST SHOOT US IN THE HEAD? I DON'T HAVE ANYMORE CLEAN UNDERWEAR TO CHANGE INTO!" Kiba growled angrily.

"HEY, I WILL TURN THIS PELICAN AROUND RIGHT NOW IF YOU DON'T CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE MISTER!" Temari snapped back. Hinata made several signs at Tenten.

"HINATA SAYS WE HAVE WOUNDED BACK HERE GOD DAMN IT!"

"TELL HINATA WE'RE ALL GOING TO BE WOUNDED OR WORSE IF WE DON'T LOSE THIS LAST BANSHEE!" The pelican shuddered as it was hit again.

"We're not gonna be able to take much more." Shikamaru warned. Temari got a strange look in her eye and Shikamaru felt the Pelican decelerate. "Temari we're slowing down. Why are we slowing down?!" Shikamaru asked getting increasingly worried.

"I'll hit the brakes and he'll fly right by." Temari said disturbingly calm.

"YOU'RE GONNA DO WHAT?!!" The whole squad screamed at once. Temari closed her eyes for a second then pulled the throttle stick back as hard as she could. It was like slamming into a brick wall. The Pelican seemed to freeze in midair. The Banshee screamed overhead and passed them.

"Burn em." Temari growled. Shikamaru squeezed the auto gun trigger and several hundred rounds tore through the air obliterating the Banshee.

"Ok, now can we go home?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah, I think we've had enough fun for one day." Shikamaru answered.


End file.
